05.26.08
Thing 1 – Lifelong Learning Habits
A Discussion of the 7 1/2 Habits of Lifelong Learners:
Habit 1: Begin with the end in mind
Habit 2: Accept responsibility for your own learning
Habit 3: View problems as challenges
Habit 4: Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner
Habit 5: Create your own learning toolbox (podcasts, classes, books, colleagues, blogs, etc.)
Habit 6: Use technology to your advantage
Habit 7: Teach or mentor others
Habit 7 1/2: Play!
Habit # 3: Viewing Problems as Challenges might be the most…ahem…challenging and problematic for me as I plug through this Web 2.0 course. It’s easy to become frustrated when you’ve worked on a task to the point where you feel that you should be an expert with it (i.e. setting up a blog)! We have to keep sight of the fact that the more we troubleshoot, read FAQs, and consult help menus, the more capable we become with the technology tools that bog us down!
Habit #7 1/2 Play! is the most intuitive of the lifelong learning habits for me. I am a hands-on, active learner who gets the most out of a task when given a significant amount of time to experiment with it and discover different components of it. I think this is an important learning style to take into consideration when presenting new software and Web resources to students.
For me, Habits 5 and 7 1/2 go hand in hand. I think I have the “play” component down (sometimes losing track of time because I have been “playing” online for so long), but oftentimes I forget about worthwhile resources to tuck away into my toolbox to use again and again. Since this course offers more structured than do my typical “playtime” habits online, I hope to begin developing a more organized toolbox for myself and my students.
